Barcelona Summer Transfers Under Scrutiny After Thomas Vermaelen Injury

There were signs in the summer that Barcelona's summer transfer business, while appearing to cover all the bases, was not up to scratch.

Now, with Thomas Vermaelen needing hamstring surgery, which could rule him out for five months, per Sport, the cracks are being exposed.

Clear objectives were formed by sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta and Co., with one of the main targets to finally address the centre-back problem that has plagued Barcelona for some time. But instead of trying to resolve this issue quickly and effectively, Barcelona focused on the capture of Luis Suarez.

This was a player that had always interested them but wasn't an essential addition to the side. At least not when compared to filling other positions.

Philippos Christou/Associated Press

In fairness, Barcelona did well to secure their goalkeepers nice and early.

With Victor Valdes and Jose Manuel Pinto leaving, they signed Marc Andre-ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo.

Although these two stoppers might not have been top of the list for Barca fans, given how well free agent Guillermo Ochoa played at the World Cup for Mexico, they were reasonable acquisitions.

So too was Ivan Rakitic. The jewel in Sevilla's Europe League crown, the Croatian midfielder was spectacularly good last season.

Barcelona knew they needed to refresh their midfield core and so brought the Andalusian side's key figure to Catalonia.

But while all this was happening, the defensive side was being neglected and the season was fast approaching.

Towards the end of July, Barcelona finally struck a deal with Valencia for Jeremy Mathieu.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

They had been trailing the 30-year-old during the summer, unwilling to pay over the odds for someone who was nearing the end of his career and was a centre-back that had been converted from left-back little more than a season beforehand.

However, Valencia had no intention of playing ball with Barcelona and kept the transfer dilly-dallying on, trying to get the Catalan giants to pay his release fee clause of €20 million, per EFE (h/t Inside Spanish Football).

Eventually manager Nuno Espirito Santo picked Mathieu as part of a 24-man-squad heading to Peru for a pre-season tour. A photo of the Frenchman in the airport materialised and it seemed like Barcelona's hopes of securing their man were slim.

Barcelona wanted Mathieu to have as much time as possible to adapt to playing the Blaugrana way and were unwilling to see Mathieu head to South America, so eventually they paid the release fee.

It made Mathieu the most expensive defender aged 30 or over in the history of football.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Of course, this gamble actually seems to have worked. Zubizarreta knew that Mathieu's physical attributes would be useful for Barcelona and this has proved the case.

Although he looks completely at odds with what you expect from a Barcelona player, Mathieu has been one of the better performers this season.

However, he has been injured three times already since signing; one of the perils of hiring a player on the verge of turning 31.

But at the time, Barcelona did not know how well Mathieu would cope with the pressure of stepping up from the Mestalla to the Camp Nou. So they decided to do some more business.

With another centre-back on the menu, Barcelona panicked and again paid over the odds for Thomas Vermaelen.

In the days leading up to the transfer, many doubted the sense in signing the Belgian defender.

He was left footed, and thus would be vying for the same defensive slot as Mathieu.

Even at his best, he would not be good enough to walk straight in to the team, so why not use the versatile Javier Mascherano to cover his position? Furthermore, Vermaelen was injured and known to be particularly injury prone. 

Rodolfo Molina/Associated Press

Barcelona should have saved their €19m, or, instead of buying Mathieu, spent the whole sum (nearly €40m) on a true world-class centre-back, with years ahead of him at the top level.

A player like Mats Hummels, or Mehdi Benatia, who went on to join Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich. 

To date, Vermaelen has not played a single minute for the first team. Depending on how his recovery from surgery goes, he may not feature at all this season.

And in recent weeks the signing of Douglas has also been mentioned as a particularly poor idea. The Brazilian cost Barcelona €4 million, but according to Tomas Andreu of Sport, the club could have spent that money on Mallorca starlet Marco Asensio.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Barcelona already had Martin Montoya as the back-up to Dani Alves, so didn't need Douglas. Instead of paying Mallorca what they wanted for the young forward, they haggled and eventually lost the deal.

Now, with Alves suspended for the Champions League group-stage clash with Paris Saint-Germain, all eyes will be on who Luis Enrique selects in his place.

If it's Montoya, then there will be further grumblings about the signing of Douglas at the cost of Asensio.

While on paper, Barcelona picked up players for each position they needed this summer, the truth is that many of the deals were not properly thought through.